This is it! After weeks of planning, tons of shopping, and two solid days of cooking, it's finally happening: Dustin's Science!-themed surprise 30th birthday party! The day of the party, we still had plenty of prep to do:

An hour and a half before the party- time to fry! First up: miniature sage funnel cakes, inspired by a dish at Barley Swine, a fantastic Austin restaurant.

Next in line for the fryer: mini corn dogs.

Last but not least, fried pickles. Fun fact: these are Dustin's favorite, and earned him the nickname "The Pickler."

We need something green. But that was not to be.

Checking the to-do list. We have time for a break!

Molly, back at home with Dustin, sent a surreptitious text to let us know they were on their way- time to grill the pork belly and beef skewers! Have you ever grilled pork belly? Crazy, crazy flare ups. I somehow managed not to completely incinerate it.

Helen lined up all the plates we would be using for the dinner, along with all of the components that didn't need to be kept hot or cold. The just-cooked meat and fried stuff was kept in the oven at 170 degrees -- the lowest it would go.

The last to-do! Putting together the petri dish course.

Here we go!

SURPRISE! Dustin thought he and Molly were coming over to babysit!

Henry didn't care much for the surprise, but Dustin liked it! And he said he had no idea what we'd been up to!

A toast! In test tubes, naturally. (They're hard to fill on account of all the foam!) Now we can eat!

The first course: Petri Dish. Blood orange gelée with a smear of local chevre, pulverized pistachios, droplets of meyer lemon juice and olive oil, micro peppermint leaves, and sea salt.

It was a hit! Seriously- I've never seen Henry lick his plate before.

The second course: Pipette. These turned out great! Fellow Food52er Oui, Chef's herbed beef skewers are insanely good, and the horseradish cream in the pipette worked perfectly. I don't know if people are going to be rushing out to buy pipettes for skewers, but it is a totally fun concept. You get the perfect amount of sauce without having to worry about people double-dipping in a communal bowl. I kid! But really, I think this is a concept worth repeating.

The third course: Pop Rocks. Korean Pork Belly Ssäm with pickled radish, short grain rice, and a sprinkling salt made with unflavored pop rocks, Japanese 7 spice, and sea salt.

You guys! This was amazing. Probably one of the most delicious and fun things I've ever prepared. That pork belly is brilliant anyway, but the pop rocks were SO. FUN. The spicy-sweet salt on top really complemented the pork, and you could hear the pop rocks popping in everyone's mouths around the table. It was a multi-sensory delight. I will definitely make it again- even if it's just for dinner with Andy and Henry!

Hooray! The first three courses were as good or better than I hoped they would be! Side note- I don't actually know what's happening in this picture, but I like it.

The fifth course: Cheese Plate. I had to make the honey spheres (for topping the Iberico) table side, so I decided to make the powdered olive oil, which had been infused with garlic, at the table too. That way everybody could see the science-y transformation.

It worked! And it did so in spite of me completely abandoning the rigidly-precise spherification technique. I just watered down some honey, spooned in some sodium alginate, and mixed it up with a fork. The spheres were perfect orbs of liquid honey, encased in an ultra-thin membrane. So hooray for taking a shortcut and having it work out ok! Sad note about the carbonated grapes (as seen in our video here), though- they had lost their carbonation :/ I just assumed they would stay effervescent, but they didn't. If you're planning to try out this technique, it should probably be done right before you're planning to eat them- the grapes look really cool in the foggy bowl of dry ice anyway.

The sixth course: Periodic Table Cake. Molly made the cake, I decorated it, and we all devoured it. There's just nothing like a moist chocolate cake with cream cheese icing.

Cake face!

The final course: Miracle Berry. This course was my attempt to recreate the one Chris Jones created on Top Chef. Slice of meyer lemon, deconstructed cheesecake (no sugar) with graham cracker crumbles and blackberry segments, and Pellegrino with lemon and lime. It had to be the last course because the effects of the miracle berry can last up to two hours.

Oh boy was this fun! When I bought the miracle berry tablets, some of the reviewers said that they didn't work, so I was a bit worried. But they were amazing! The lemon was like an intense and very sweet orange. The cheesecake, which was just cream cheese folded with whipped cream, vanilla, and lemon juice, was also delicious. And the Pellegrino reminded me of a cherry limeade. Honestly though, just tasting the lime from the Pellegrino glass might have been the tastiest thing on the plate- it was one of the most delicious pieces of fruit I've ever had. If you're planning a miracle berry tasting party, make sure you've got a big sack of limes on hand!

And that, friends, was the dinner. It was an absolute blast, and the birthday boy seemed to really enjoy it. Looking back on it, I am sure this is the most involved meal I've ever cooked, and definitely one of the very best. I was really happy that I spent so much time planning and thinking about the timeline. It was really great to have all the cooking done ahead of time so I could just plate the next course as soon as we had finished the last one.

Huge, huge thanks to Helen, who is not pictured in any of the photos (sad face) because she tirelessly documented the whole process. No exaggeration- Helen took close to 1500 pictures over the course of two days! Thanks, Helen!!

Fun fact: After dinner, we geeked out by solving a series of science-themed puzzles that my husband, Andy, created, which culminated in the creation of an icosahedron that spelled out "Happy Birthday Dustin!"

Hooray for Dustin and Molly! We were so happy to get to celebrate Dustin's 30th birthday in such a grand fashion! I hope it was as fun for him as it was for me!

If you'd like to see more, we've put upan album of our 300 favorite pictures. Thanks for reading!

I have always loved food. My favorite books as a kid always featured food (eg. The Berenstain Bears Get the Gimmies- so much candy!) and I loved cooking shows like Yan Can Cook and The Frugal Gourmet. I started cooking the Thanksgiving dinner for my family when I was 13 years old. I have food52 to thank for inspiring me to come up with my own recipes, as well as for introducing me to a community of fantastic cooks and their amazing recipes. I try my best to cook locally and seasonally, and I tend to prefer straightforward, simple recipes where the ingredients get to shine. I live in wonderful Austin, Texas with my husband, Andy (a video game programmer) and my son, Henry (an 8-month-old who loves to eat).

hah! i highly, highly recommend it. i gave awards with appropriate prizes such as: $10 gift card to a local ice cream shop for the most delicious cake, a bouganvilla for the most beautiful, novelty toys for the most fun, and a used sandra lee cookbook for the 'aw, honey! you baked!' award. yessss.

I am in awe - I love your creative and inspiring science-themed menu! The photos and video to document this experience are terrific. You all look like you are having so much fun and your baby is just adorable.

My mind is blown. I may steal some of these ideas for a Ph.D. dissertation party I'm hosting next weekend - specifically the petri dish idea, and perhaps the dry ice and fruit combo. Where did you buy the petri dishes and pipettes?

oh what fun! thanks Burnt Offerings! i bought the pipettes from a teachers supply store (so cheap!) and the petri dishes were from this website (http://www.sciencestuff...) which is headquartered in Austin, so they let us go to their HQ to pick them up. both are available on amazon if you don't mind paying for expedited shipping. if you end up trying the carbonated fruit, i would recommend cutting the grapes in half, or use other skinless fruit (pineapple, strawberries, etc). you might also opt to put the fruit directly on the dry ice, without a wooden cutting board in between- even freshly carbonated, the grapes were only mildly tingly- i'll make these changes next time! happy cooking and have a great party!

Brava!! You are a dynamo! I had a great time just reading about it and am even inspired to try my hand at a few things like the honey and olive oil (and to finally stage a gathering for the consumption of my long-hoarded miracle berries!)

Thank you for letting us share a very memorable 30th Birthday! A surprise for him, but also a wonderful surprise for food52+ readers. Excellent plan, excellent solutions for when a glitch snuck in, cutest little baby, a wonderful photographer. WHAT A PARTY!

Searching around the web for things to do with celery, I came across a cool idea: Stick grapes in a cream whipper thingy and charge it up with CO2 cartridges to make fizzy grapes! Similar in theory to your dry ice technique, but still have to eat them up quick-like.

eeee! thanks mrslarkin!! i read about that carbonation technique, but i don't have one of those iSi canisters- are they super great? on an unrelated note, we may be on to something with carbonated celery! ;)

thanks so much sygyzy! and thanks for your comment about the carbonated grapes on the video too- i had read a bit about the technique you mentioned, but don't have an iSi cannister. i think cutting the grapes in half would have helped the carbonation levels with the dry ice technique too, though!